1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to a communication apparatus connected to a line of an exchange network having a service of notifying a called party of identification information of a calling party (caller).
2. Description of the Related Art
Recently, for example, in some foreign countries, there has been provided a service of an exchange network in which a called party is notified of identification information (i.e., the telephone number) of a caller (hereinafter termed a xe2x80x9ccaller ID servicexe2x80x9d). A telephone set dealing with such a caller ID service has a small display unit capable of displaying information comprising about one or two lines, the display unit itself comprising, for example, an LCD (liquid crystal display). When a call has been received, the telephone set displays the identification information (telephone number) of the received caller on the display unit, so that the operator of the called party can identify the caller. Japanese Patent Publication No. 6-52914 (1994) relates to such a telephone set. The telephone set of this patent displays the identification number of a caller received at during the call-receiving operation, and resets the display before the next call-receiving operation.
In this telephone set, however, only the identification information of a caller is displayed during the call-receiving operation, and the operator merely determines whether or not to respond to the call-receiving operation.
Hence, conventionally, for example, even if the operator wants to know the history of call-receiving operations from a plurality of callers, he can know only the caller of the immediately preceding call-receiving operation. That is, the operator cannot know the history of call-receiving operations, for example, in a day or during his absence.
Systems have also been proposed in which, for example, another terminal, such as a telephone set, a personal computer or the like, is connected to a facsimile apparatus, so that a single telephone line is shared for conversation through the telephone set and facsimile communication, or for facsimile communication and data communication by the computer.
When, for example, the function of the caller ID service is provided in the facsimile apparatus of the above-described system, although the telephone number of the caller is displayed on the display unit of the facsimile apparatus when the facsimile apparatus responds to a call receiving operation, the other terminal, such as the telephone set, the personal computer or the like, cannot receive the identification information of the caller.
No problem arises when the facsimile apparatus itself responds to the call-receiving operation and facsimile communication is performed in that state. However, when communication is switched to the telephone set or the personal computer after the facsimile apparatus has responded, the other terminal, such as the telephone set, the personal computer or the like, cannot recognize the identification information of the caller even though the identification information of the caller has been transmitted from the switchboard.
The present invention has been made in consideration of the above-described problems.
It is an object of the present invention to provide an improved communication apparatus.
It is another object of the present invention to make it possible to easily recognize callers from a plurality of call-receiving operations by storing a plurality of sets of identification information of the callers received from an exchange network during the call-receiving operations and outputting the stored plurality of sets of identification information.
It is still another object of the present invention to make it possible to easily recognize a caller by outputting the telephone number and the name data of the caller received from an exchange network by referring to the name data of callers which have been registered in advance.
It is yet another object of the present invention to determine, in a communication apparatus connected to a line of an exchange network having the function of notifying the identification information of a caller, and sharing the line with another terminal, whether communication by the apparatus itself is to be performed or communication by the other terminal is to be performed in response to a call-receiving operation, and notifying the other terminal of the identification information of the caller detected during the call-receiving operation when communication by the other terminal is to be performed in response to the call-receiving operation.
According to one aspect, the present invention which achieves these objectives relates to a communication apparatus connected to an exchange network having a service of notifying identification information of a caller, comprising reception means for receiving the identification information during a call-receiving operation, storage means for storing a plurality of sets of identification information received by the reception means, and output means for outputting the plurality of sets of identification information stored in the storage means.
According to another aspect, the present invention which achieves these objectives relates to a method of outputting identification information of a caller in a communication apparatus connected to an exchange network having a service of notifying the identification information, comprising the steps of receiving the identification information during a call-receiving operation, storing the received identification information and storing and holding a plurality of sets of identification information, and outputting the plurality of sets of identification information which have been stored and held.
According to still another aspect, the present invention which achieves these objectives relates to a communication apparatus, connected to a line of an exchange network having a function of notifying identification information of a caller, and sharing the line with another terminal, comprising detection means for detecting identification information of a caller during a call-receiving operation from the exchange network, determination means for determining whether communication by the apparatus itself is to be performed or communication by the other terminal is to be performed in response to the call-receiving operation, and notification means for notifying, when performing communication by the other terminal is to be performed in response to the call-receiving operation, the other terminal of the identification information of the caller detected by the detection means.